Conventionally, an identification tag such as that shown in FIG. 28 and FIG. 29 for the individual management and identification of a linear object such as a cord or a wire, has been known.
In FIG. 28, the identification tag has plate-like clip parts 100a and 100b with one of their edges joined so that they are able to open. On each of the inner faces of the clip parts 100a and 100b, grooves 200 of semicircular cross-section are respectively formed to hold a linear object, and the grooves 200 extend in a direction parallel to the joint part (the left longitudinal edge in the figure) of each of the clip parts 100a and 100b. Then, after opening each of the clip parts 100a and 100b and fitting a linear object in the grooves 200, the identification tag is installed on the linear object 40 as shown in FIG. 29 by pressing both clip parts 100a and 100b together and closing them with a hook 300.
Incidentally, the shape and dimension of the grooves 200 need to substantially correspond to the shape and dimension of the linear object 40 in order to be properly able to lock onto the linear object 40, that is, so that the identification tag does not fall when it is installed on a linear object 40 which is provided vertically. As a result, the shape and dimensions of the grooves 200 require high accuracy, and there is a concern of increasing production cost. Also, in order to suppress changes in the shape and dimensions of the groove 200 caused by temperature change in the environment, there is also concern that material with a low coefficient of linear expansion needs to be selected for the identification tag, and restrictions to the environment of use thus occur.
Furthermore, for linear objects with a different shape and dimensions, even if the differences in shape and dimensions are small, an identification tag corresponding to each linear object needs to be individually prepared. As a result, the cost of the identification tags becomes relatively high, and working efficiency decreases as the installation operation has to be carried out while selecting identification tags.
Moreover, when opening each of the clip parts 100a and 100b and fitting the linear object in the groove 200 as mentioned above, the linear object may become parted from the groove 200 before each of clip parts are pressed together, and the installation of the linear object must therefore to be carried out cautiously. Hence workability is reduced. Especially when the linear object has a flexure tendency or such, the installation needs to be carried out cautiously with careful attention to the direction of flexure, and workability is thus reduced further.
Also, when installing on a number of linear objects arranged with high density in a narrow space, because handling the identification tags and determining the positioning of the grooves and the linear objects become difficult, installation workability becomes reduced even further. If each of the clip parts is forced together while the linear object is dislocated from the grooves 200, then the linear object will be pressed by the part outside the grooves, and there is a possibility of causing a defect in one or both of the linear object and the identification tag.
In consideration of the above, an improved version of a linear object identification tag shown in FIG. 30 has also been developed. This linear object identification tag does not require the dimension of the groove to be the same as the dimension of the linear object that the tag is to be installed on, and the dimension of the groove is allowed a margin.
In this figure, an inner space 210 linking with a groove 200″ and also having its diameter larger than that of the groove 200″ is formed on the center of the inner face of one of clip parts 100b′, and a blade spring 220 is provided on the wall surface of the inner space 210. In this case, when the linear object is fitted into the groove 200″ and 200′ and both clip parts 100a and 100b are put together and the hook 300 closed, the linear object is forced against the groove 200′ side by the blade spring 220 and is pressed against the groove 200′ and locked. Therefore, the dimension of the groove is allowed a margin because even if the dimension of the groove is larger than that of the linear object, the identification tag will not fall from the linear object.
However, this margin is generally given to be only slightly larger than the dimension of the groove and linear object, and is only able for example to absorb the dimensional change due to temperature change. Therefore, the possibility of installation of a single identification tag on linear objects with differing shape and dimensions is not achieved, and the inefficient operation of installing while selecting the identification tag is still involved. Also, because there is still an operation of fitting the linear object in the groove while opening the clip parts, and closing and pressing together the clip parts while paying careful attention not to have the linear object parted from the groove, problems such as the reduction of operation workability, the linear object being pressed by parts other than the grooves, or the operation of installation onto a linear object with flexure tendency being difficult, still cannot be solved.
Also, because both of the two types of identification tags mentioned above require the operation of pressing together the clipping parts after fitting the linear object in the grooves, the installation operation naturally requires both hands. Therefore, especially when having a number of linear objects provided (at high density) in a narrow space, there are concerns such as that the workability of the installation of a linear object identification tag is reduced due to the restrictions on the movement of hands and fingers, that the identification tag may be dropped, and that the linear object may become defective while fumbling with linear objects during the installation. Because of these concerns, there has been a demand for the development of an identification tag which can be easily installed onto a linear object, or an instrument or a method of installation which allow easy identification tag installation to a linear object.
An object of the present invention is to provide a linear object identification tag having excellent workability of installation onto a linear object when managing and identifying linear objects such as cord, wire and tube, and being applicable to linear objects with differing shapes and dimension, and an instrument and method of installation for the same.
Next, FIG. 31 shows a connector receptacle board 63 used at a communication equipment station. This connector receptacle board 63 has a number of connector receptacles 62 to which communication lines with connectors are connected. The conventional connector interconnection and management method using this connector receptacle board 63 is described below.
Reference symbol 61 in the figure denotes a communication line connected to a remote device. A connector receptacle 62 is respectively connected to each individual end of some communication lines 61, and these connector receptacles 62 are interconnected in grid form on the front face of the connector receptacle board 63. Reference symbol 64 denotes a communication line that links communication devices in the communication station, and reference symbol 65 denotes connectors that are provided at both ends of the communication line 64. A communication line with connectors 66 comprises the communication line 64 and the connectors 65 at both ends.
By connecting the connector 65 of the communication line with connectors 66 to the connector receptacle 62 of the connector receptacle board 63, a remote device is connected to a device in the station via the communication line 61, the connector receptacle 62, and the communication line with connectors 66. By changing the device in the station connecting to the connector 65 of the communication line with connectors 66, the remote device can be freely switched to a connection with devices in the station having different functions.
When the connection from the remote device to the device in the station falls into disuse, the communication line is removed by unplugging the connector 65 of the communication line with connectors 66. Reference symbol 67 denotes a label having hand written data identifying the communication line with connectors, which is attached to the above mentioned communication line with connectors 66 with a string. Also, reference symbols 68 and 69 are code-labels respectively positioned in a longitudinal direction and crosswise direction on the connector receptacle board to identify the connector receptacle 62.
In this way, conventionally, the interconnection status of connectors, or communication lines with connectors, to a connector receptacle has been managed by identifying a communication line with connectors with a hand written label, and identifying a connector receptacle with the two code-labels positioned in a longitudinal direction and crosswise direction on the connector receptacle board, and furthermore by handwriting into a management table or entering manually into a management database whether a given connector receptacle was connected, or free.
That is to say, the conventional connector interconnection status management led easily to incorrect management information due to the records on the labels being handwritten by the operator, connector receptacle selection being carried out by means of visual checking, and records of connection presence status of the connector receptacle being hand written. In addition it had the disadvantage of the possibility of communication failure and so forth caused by incorrectly removing a connector in communication due to this incorrect information.
Also, because the dimensions of the label 67 can not be made small due to being handwritten and because it is formed to be hung on a communication line, then on a connector receptacle board that has connector receptacles arranged at high density, the density of the communication lines with connectors that are connected to this also becomes high, and a number of the labels come to hang between the communication lines. Therefore, there is the disadvantage that operation efficiency becomes drastically reduced as communication lines get damaged due to entanglements between labels, or between labels and communication lines, during the operation of connection and removal of the communication lines with connectors. Furthermore, there is the major disadvantage that this leads to serious failures such as removal of the incorrect communication line with connectors, or connection to an incorrect connector receptacle due to erroneous visual recognition of a label.
Another conventional method for connector interconnection management is described making reference to FIG. 32. Reference symbol 610 denotes a label to which is attached the identification code of the connector converted into a two dimensional code, and reference symbols 611 and 612 denote labels in which the codes in a longitudinal direction and crosswise direction respectively are converted into two dimensional codes to identify a connector receptacle. Also, reference symbol 613 denotes a two-dimensional code reader device comprising a reader part 614 and a hand-held device 615 having the function of controlling the reader part 614 and displaying the read data.
This method reduces incorrect entries to labels, and mistakes such as disconnection of incorrect connectors can be reduced compared to the case of handwriting, because identification codes of connectors are formulated and converted into two dimensional codes and printed on labels by a computer device. Also, because the connector identification code and connector receptacle identification code are verified and simultaneously recorded as an operation record on the hand-held device by reading the labels 610, 611 and 612 with the reader device 613, if the connector identification code and connector receptacle identification codes of the connectors to be operated on, are registered on the hand-held device beforehand, it becomes possible to check the registered contents against the actual operation record so that operation mistakes will be reduced even further.
Furthermore, by converting information such as connector identification code into two dimensional code, the dimensions of the label become smaller, and it can be directly attached to a communication line with connectors as shown in FIG. 32, and tangling of labels or of a label and a communication line can be prevented.
However, as connector receptacles are interconnected to the connector receptacle board in high density, the density of communication lines with connectors 66 extending from the connector receptacle becomes higher, and the operation of removal and connection of connectors provided in the inmost recesses of dense connector communication lines has become difficult to carry out by hand.
An example of a conventional connector interconnection instrument 618 used for connector connection removal operation on the terminal strip of connector receptacles provided in high density is shown in FIG. 33. The connector interconnection instrument 618 has a connector grip part 616 to hold a connector and a control button to control the operation of the grip part by hand.
When this connector interconnection instrument 618 is used, the cumbersome task of using two instruments, namely the two-dimensional code reader device 613 shown in FIG. 32, and the connector interconnection instrument 618 shown in FIG. 33, occurs during the operation of connecting and removing a single connector. For example, when removing a connector, after reading the label 610 of the communication line with connectors and the labels 611 and 612 of the connector receptacle board with the reader device 613, the hand-held reader device 613 needs to be exchanged for the connector interconnection instrument 618, and the previously verified communication line with connectors is removed from the connector receptacle which has also been verified with the reader device in the same manner.
As just described, not only is the operation cumbersome and of reduced workability, but the communication line with connectors, and the connector receptacle, which are the objects of the operation, need to be kept or verified at all times while two types of hand held instruments are exchanged, and if care is not taken, the incorrect communication line with connectors will be removed and there is a risk of communication failure occurring.
Moreover, the connector connection information which indicates whether or not a connector is connected to the connector receptacle needs to be manually entered, and in this there is no change from the prior art in FIG. 1. Therefore, the risk of entering incorrect information at this stage remains.